Swedish fish - behind the scenes rebuilding a public aquarium

[Sallstrom]

I think this is a great idea. Not only does it block the view between windows but I feel it adds "length" to the tank.


Love the concept, difficult to pull off. Once the coral grows it will be a challenge to keep it pruned back enough to keep that back wall exposed. Hopefully you can figure out some way to make it work!

Thanks! I hope the distance from the window to the back wall makes it easier to achieve the "ocean feeling" with the blue areas. My nightmare is that we get a swimming pool look ;Nailbiting That's why I hope we can figure out a way to place acrylic sheets there, so it's possible to change if the colour isn't right the first try. And I'm also afraid urchins will eat/fret(?) of the paint on the wall.

Another way is to avoid light on the back part of the tank, but IMO that doesn't give an ocean feeling. On a coral reef there's a lot of light!

 

[Brew12]

Thanks! I hope the distance from the window to the back wall makes it easier to achieve the "ocean feeling" with the blue areas. My nightmare is that we get a swimming pool look ;Nailbiting That's why I hope we can figure out a way to place acrylic sheets there, so it's possible to change if the colour isn't right the first try. And I'm also afraid urchins will eat/fret(?) of the paint on the wall.

Another way is to avoid light on the back part of the tank, but IMO that doesn't give an ocean feeling. On a coral reef there's a lot of light!

If I remember right, the Shed Aquarium in Chicago had all sorts of paint problems. First was a quality issue where it peeled, then it was eaten by urchins. Your concern is valid!

The view from the smaller window reminds me of what it looks like when you dive down into a collapsed volcanic tunnel in Hawaii. Your vision is limited to a jagged narrow path straight ahead and up but you are surrounded by fish and coral.

 

[Sallstrom]

We are now almost a month into our rebuilding phase, but the only tanks we've emptied in the exhibition are two 25 litre tanks. Even if this feels a bit frustrating everything is in order and going according to plan. We need to add more tanks before we can start move animals and empty the old aquariums.
Some animals, like the bamboo shark, will move to another aquarium. But we're waiting for a decision whether someone will document/film the move or not. So that's also on hold.
The time schedule isn't that tight, the old tanks must be empty next summer(or fall, not sure yet).

For the temporary Aquarium I've mostly calculated the bottom area in the new propagation tanks and compared it to surface area on our current reef tanks. Here are some numbers!

Old propagation tanks original: 2 x(6 x 1m)
Modified propagation tank: 2 x (4 x 0,8m)
New acrylic tanks: 6 x (2,5 x 0,8 m)

So our bottom area for corals will be around 30 m2 when we started those tanks. Depth will be 30-40 cm.

If I remember right, our current tanks have corals over an area about 22-25 m2. But quite dense. So it'll really be an adventure to move all the corals and see if the fit

Tomorrow we will pick up two new acrylic tanks, 2,5 x 0,8 x 0,4 m. We've ordered six of those. It'll be nice to see how they turned out!

I'm not sure yet on how many coral systems we will have in the temporary aquarium. Maybe a soft coral + LPS system with a bit higher nutrient level and a SPS system. We'll see. Lots of things not decided yet, like how to eradicate AEFW and other pests.

That was an update on the TA(have I written 'the temporary Aquarium' enough times to use the short TA instead now? )

 

[Sallstrom]

Here's the drawing again for the TA

 

[najer]

Exciting times.

 

[blackizzz]

Here's the drawing again for the TA

Will all the coral flats be two levels?

 

[Sallstrom]

Will all the coral flats be two levels?

Yes. Otherwise the room will be far to small

 

[Sallstrom]

I'm a big fan of podcasts and I recently found out thanks to R2R that there was a reef tank podcast called Reef News Network. Today I'm gonna give it a try!

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

We are now almost a month into our rebuilding phase, but the only tanks we've emptied in the exhibition are two 25 litre tanks. Even if this feels a bit frustrating everything is in order and going according to plan. We need to add more tanks before we can start move animals and empty the old aquariums.
Some animals, like the bamboo shark, will move to another aquarium. But we're waiting for a decision whether someone will document/film the move or not. So that's also on hold.
The time schedule isn't that tight, the old tanks must be empty next summer(or fall, not sure yet).

For the temporary Aquarium I've mostly calculated the bottom area in the new propagation tanks and compared it to surface area on our current reef tanks. Here are some numbers!

Old propagation tanks original: 2 x(6 x 1m)
Modified propagation tank: 2 x (4 x 0,8m)
New acrylic tanks: 6 x (2,5 x 0,8 m)

So our bottom area for corals will be around 30 m2 when we started those tanks. Depth will be 30-40 cm.

If I remember right, our current tanks have corals over an area about 22-25 m2. But quite dense. So it'll really be an adventure to move all the corals and see if the fit

Tomorrow we will pick up two new acrylic tanks, 2,5 x 0,8 x 0,4 m. We've ordered six of those. It'll be nice to see how they turned out!

I'm not sure yet on how many coral systems we will have in the temporary aquarium. Maybe a soft coral + LPS system with a bit higher nutrient level and a SPS system. We'll see. Lots of things not decided yet, like how to eradicate AEFW and other pests.

That was an update on the TA(have I written 'the temporary Aquarium' enough times to use the short TA instead now? )

I'm confuse, so you guys will no longer be in the old building after new one finished?

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

We are now almost a month into our rebuilding phase, but the only tanks we've emptied in the exhibition are two 25 litre tanks. Even if this feels a bit frustrating everything is in order and going according to plan. We need to add more tanks before we can start move animals and empty the old aquariums.
Some animals, like the bamboo shark, will move to another aquarium. But we're waiting for a decision whether someone will document/film the move or not. So that's also on hold.
The time schedule isn't that tight, the old tanks must be empty next summer(or fall, not sure yet).

For the temporary Aquarium I've mostly calculated the bottom area in the new propagation tanks and compared it to surface area on our current reef tanks. Here are some numbers!

Old propagation tanks original: 2 x(6 x 1m)
Modified propagation tank: 2 x (4 x 0,8m)
New acrylic tanks: 6 x (2,5 x 0,8 m)

So our bottom area for corals will be around 30 m2 when we started those tanks. Depth will be 30-40 cm.

If I remember right, our current tanks have corals over an area about 22-25 m2. But quite dense. So it'll really be an adventure to move all the corals and see if the fit

Tomorrow we will pick up two new acrylic tanks, 2,5 x 0,8 x 0,4 m. We've ordered six of those. It'll be nice to see how they turned out!

I'm not sure yet on how many coral systems we will have in the temporary aquarium. Maybe a soft coral + LPS system with a bit higher nutrient level and a SPS system. We'll see. Lots of things not decided yet, like how to eradicate AEFW and other pests.

That was an update on the TA(have I written 'the temporary Aquarium' enough times to use the short TA instead now? )

By the way, if all good well, got 20 dendros coming this Wednesday, I would share, but you guys are far. Maybe one day.

 

[Sallstrom]

I'm confuse, so you guys will no longer be in the old building after new one finished?

The new Aquarium will be in a new built building next to the museum, underground. So we will still be a part of the museum, same entrance etc.
The temporary Aquarium will be in the museum building during the building process. Same floor as the old Aquarium, but on the opposite side(where the old restaurant was before). This is because the old Aquarium facilities will be the new entrance and will be rebuilt totally.
The old restaurant will be our new staff canteen and won't be rebuilt, just painted and fixed after we've moved all animals to the new Aquarium(when that's ready).
The dream would have been to stay in the old Aquarium during the building time, but that was not possible. That's why we need this temporary Aquarium.

That was an attempt to explain, let me know if it was unclear

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

The new Aquarium will be in a new built building next to the museum, underground. So we will still be a part of the museum, same entrance etc.
The temporary Aquarium will be in the museum building during the building process. Same floor as the old Aquarium, but on the opposite side(where the old restaurant was before). This is because the old Aquarium facilities will be the new entrance and will be rebuilt totally.
The old restaurant will be our new staff canteen and won't be rebuilt, just painted and fixed after we've moved all animals to the new Aquarium(when that's ready).
The dream would have been to stay in the old Aquarium during the building time, but that was not possible. That's why we need this temporary Aquarium.

That was an attempt to explain, let me know if it was unclear

So first level, where an aquarium is, new entrance add . How about the other existing aquariums, what will be of them?

 

[Sallstrom]

So first level, where an aquarium is, new entrance add . How about the other existing aquariums, what will be of them?

The large ones, in concrete, will be demolished.
The stand alone tanks are we trying to give away/sell to other public aquariums. They are too heavy to use in the temporary Aquarium. We are only allowed 1000kg/m2 on that floor. So therefor we've order shallow tanks in acrylic, not so heavy and easy to move, drill and stack.

 

[Sallstrom]

Today we picked up two new acrylic propagation tanks. Looks really nice!
2,5 m long. Four more of those will be ready soon.
The stand on the picture is for some larger plastic tanks. Just borrowing that space for now.

 

[Sea MunnKey]

Nice!!

 

[biophilia]

Looking great! Sorry if I missed it, but approximately how deep will the largest reef tank at the new aquarium be? As you shift towards LEDs have you run into any concerns about lighting the deeper tanks? I’m always surprised to see how often public aquariums still rely on halide lighting even with all of the improvements in LED in recent years — especially for institutions that focus on green building standards.

Also does anything stand out about the way the old aquarium was designed that you’re specifically doing differently this time around? Thanks

 

[Sallstrom]

Looking great! Sorry if I missed it, but approximately how deep will the largest reef tank at the new aquarium be? As you shift towards LEDs have you run into any concerns about lighting the deeper tanks? I’m always surprised to see how often public aquariums still rely on halide lighting even with all of the improvements in LED in recent years — especially for institutions that focus on green building standards.

Also does anything stand out about the way the old aquarium was designed that you’re specifically doing differently this time around? Thanks

It will be around 4 meters deep and I really want to be able to grow corals all the way down to the bottom. So we gonna need a lot of lights
Our goal is to use only LEDs in the new Aquarium. We have some ideas for the large tank, but there's still some stuff we haven't decided. There are not many "coral LEDs" for deep tanks. But we know what light spectrum we want, so we might try to order a custom made version of an exciting lamp. That's all I know for now, nothing is decided yet.

That's a good question. Actually we will build many thing like we run it today, connect many tanks to one sump for example. One thing we've gotten into the drawings is pipes under the floor. So it'll be possible to connect water systems in different rooms.
Then there's a lot of practical things like drains at the lowest points, better electricity/safety of course. And an easier way to get large shippings of salt into the building. No need to carry salt anymore!

Yes, and avoid stand alone tanks out in the exhibition. We want to be able to reach all tanks from behind the scenes. Now many tank and sumps are in the exhibition, which means we need to fix most stuff before and after opening hours.

We also want to work harder on backgrounds in the tanks. Or ways to avoid the feeling that you look into an aquarium. We dream of creating tanks which gives the feeling that you look out into the ocean. So of course no visible pipes or pumps. That's our goal, even if we don't get all the way there

That's some things I can think of now that we will change. As for aquarium husbandry we want to go on much like we do today, run our version of the Triton method.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

This University is in the county I do work in. They were in Sweden

 

[biophilia]

It will be around 4 meters deep and I really want to be able to grow corals all the way down to the bottom. So we gonna need a lot of lights
Our goal is to use only LEDs in the new Aquarium. We have some ideas for the large tank, but there's still some stuff we haven't decided. There are not many "coral LEDs" for deep tanks. But we know what light spectrum we want, so we might try to order a custom made version of an exciting lamp. That's all I know for now, nothing is decided yet.

That's a good question. Actually we will build many thing like we run it today, connect many tanks to one sump for example. One thing we've gotten into the drawings is pipes under the floor. So it'll be possible to connect water systems in different rooms.
Then there's a lot of practical things like drains at the lowest points, better electricity/safety of course. And an easier way to get large shippings of salt into the building. No need to carry salt anymore!

Yes, and avoid stand alone tanks out in the exhibition. We want to be able to reach all tanks from behind the scenes. Now many tank and sumps are in the exhibition, which means we need to fix most stuff before and after opening hours.

We also want to work harder on backgrounds in the tanks. Or ways to avoid the feeling that you look into an aquarium. We dream of creating tanks which gives the feeling that you look out into the ocean. So of course no visible pipes or pumps. That's our goal, even if we don't get all the way there

That's some things I can think of now that we will change. As for aquarium husbandry we want to go on much like we do today, run our version of the Triton method.

I know that Orphek makes a ~500W LED pendant that is billed as a drop-in replacement for 1000W metal halides. I'm not sure how many public aquariums are actually using it, but I'm looking forward to seeing what you end up choosing -- and of course how well the corals down at the floor of the tank respond! The PA that I volunteer at has 80 1000W halides over their 7.5ish meter deep reef tank and I know they've held off on switching to LEDs for good reason, but it really does seem like the technology is right on the cusp of being able to match halides at this point -- and at a price point that pays for itself over the short term depending on local electricity rates (and doesn't serve to exacerbate the very energy issues that are imperiling wild reefs to begin with). There's a LFS around here that has an array of the 200W Orphek Atlantik pendants over the 1.25 meter deep, 1,100 gallon display tank they're building and I know they've been happy with the PAR readings so far. They're not the best with tank husbandry, so I can vouch for the ability of those pendants to grow excessive amounts of bryopsis way down on the sandbed...

Sounds like a solid plan with avoiding stand-alone tanks and more natural backdrops -- and those two go hand-in-hand with in-wall type tanks where you don't have to worry so much about aquascaping with all 4 sides being visible. If @Lasse 's magical false wall/powerhead hiding abilities are any indication, I'm sure you'll have some beautiful and natural looking displays. My grandfather's family is from Sweden so I hope to make a trip there some day and see your aquarium in person!

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Check out NPS eye candy. One member has dendronephthya for over year.